


cupcakes, tea and sweet sixteen

by dreamerfound



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Birthday, Cupcakes, Cute, F/F, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Skipping Class, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 18:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamerfound/pseuds/dreamerfound
Summary: After twenty-eight years of being fifteen two young women of Storybrooke are finally turning 16 years old.





	cupcakes, tea and sweet sixteen

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place sometime during season two.

Peony was already at the bus stop when Brin showed up. She had a Tupperware container tucked under her arm, and her backpack slung over her shoulder. Brin had gotten up three hours early so she could bake cupcakes. A dusting of flour still showed on her black jeans. Brin and Peony had been best friends since they were small children back in the Enchanted Forest. Their shared birthday the first of many things that bonded them together. 

"November third," Brin said with a smile on her face.  
"The first November third in twenty-eight years. Can you believe we're finally sixteen??" 

Peony was dressed in a light floral dress, her strawberry blond hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders. It was unseasonably warm for early November in Maine. 

"We should skip school." Brin blurted. The idea had just occurred to her.

"Skip school? But it's our birthday." Peony loved books and school and all that learning crap. Brin didn't mind school. It sure beat hand-sewing ladies garments eighteen hours a day back in the enchanted forest, but she didn't have the same love for it that Peony had. Few did. 

"Exactly, it's our first birthday in almost three decades. We shouldn't be spending it cooped up in a classroom all day. We need to do something special, just the two of us." 

"But you brought cupcakes." Peony pointed to the plastic container under her arm.

"We'll have a picnic out in the woods. It's just one day, school will still be there tomorrow." 

Peony bit her lip and appeared to deliberate for a moment. Back in the Enchanted Forest, she had been working as a servant. They had been a nice enough family, they treated her better than most high-born families treated their help, but it was still servitude. When the curse brought everyone to Storybrooke it followed the Land Without Magic's social norms and put all the children under eighteen in school. Peony had thrived. Most of the children had, even Brin. So many of the young in the Enchanted Forest worked, the ones that weren't rich or royalty anyways. Brin and Peony hadn't been either of those. Few little girls turned out to be princesses, even if you came from a fairytale land. 

"Okay, just this once." Peony smiled and took Brin's free hand and the two of them snuck away from the bus stop and headed toward the woods. 

It was hard to tell how big the woods were in Storybrooke. Sometimes they seemed quite small and other times they appeared to go on forever. Today they went to their favorite clearing. It was only a little ways from the woods in back of Granny's dinner. Brin could smell Granny's famous lasagne cooking in the distance. She considered for a moment the wisdom of sneaking off and grabbing some lunch before digging into the cupcakes, but she didn't want to get caught skipping school, it would put an end to their special day, and Brin had been waiting for this a very long time. 

Peony sat down on the grass and pulled a thermos from her pale yellow backpack. "I have tea," she said. 

"Awesome! I've got a dozen Earl Grey cupcakes with lavender frosting." Brin loved coming up with new recipes. It was shortly after the curse broke that she discovered her love for baking. She had been trying to figure out who she really was, away from her curse identity, and away from the girl she was back in the Enchanted Forest. 

"Oh Brianna, you've been experimenting again, let me see." 

Brin hated being called by her full name and stopped everyone who wasn't her best friend from doing it. She didn't mind it coming off of Peony's lips so much. Peony, on the other hand, frowned every time someone called her by that name. Strangely she preferred her curse name over her Enchanted Forest one. Penny seemed a little to ordinary a name in Brin's opinion, but she used it, most of the time.

Brin lifted the cover off the cupcake container, showing off her budding decoration skills. She had painstakingly piped little flowers in three shades of purple on top of each one. The look on Peony's face was worth it.

"They're gorgeous! Almost too gorgeous to eat." Peony gently picked one up and examined it more closely. "These must have taken forever to decorate."

"Well, after being fifteen for so long, I thought turning sixteen should be properly celebrated." It had taken her nearly an hour to get the frosting just the way she wanted. 

"Indeed." Peony bit into the cupcake and closed her eyes.  
The look of bliss on her face sent shivers along Brin's skin. It was hard being in love with your best friend. 

Peony opened her eyes. "You did it again Brianna, this is so amazing, try one."

Brin had already tried two at home when she was creating them, but she didn't want to disappoint her friend, so she picked one up and took a bite. They were good, if she did say so herself. She'd used the lavender from her mother's garden for the frosting. 

They ate cupcakes and drank tea, then lay back and watched the clouds, their fingers barely touching. Brin thought of reaching out and taking her hand, but she didn't want to ruin a good thing. Their friendship had endured troubled times in the Enchanted Forest, a dark curse and now life in Storybrooke, she didn't want to test it by declaring her love or anything as foolish as that. This was enough. No matter what happened, as long as they were together, it would be enough. 

Full of cupcakes and tea, Brin felt herself beginning to drift off to sleep when she felt Peony sit up beside her. Brin knew they would have to get going soon. She wasn't sure what time it was, but school would likely let out soon. She kept her eyes closed not wanting the day to end and then she felt the soft brush of lips on hers and she opened her eyes to find all her dreams come true.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for: fan_flashworks amnesty #40/challenge #131: Cake and ladiesbingo, prompt: original characters


End file.
